Can Siblings Hold Hands?
by paper-fl0wers
Summary: When the temptation begins to be too much, Clary has a rather strange question for Jace. No real timeline. Just sometime between City of Bones and City of Ashes. One-shot


Can Siblings Hold Hands?

Clary knocked on the door to Jace's bedroom. "Come in," she heard him say from inside. She stepped into Jace's room to find him stretched out on his bed, arms folded behind his head. "Hey, sis."

Clary tried not to grimace at his choice of words. He sat up on his bed and gestured for her to sit next to him. "Oh, I just wanted to know if you wanted anything specific from that Chinese place we always order from because-uh, Isabelle said we can order Chinese food instead."

Jace shrugged. "I'm not hungry."

Clary blinked. "You spent the last half an hour hovering over Isabelle's shoulder and poking fun at her while she cooked! I guess that just proves you like to bother people just for the heck of it."

"That's not true...ok, well it is, but I _was_hungry. I lost my appetite." Jace looked at her sadly. "Sometimes when I think about you and who you are to me I lose my appetite..."

Clary shuffled nervously and then inhaled a shaky breath. "Jace, I'm an only child so I don't know any better but...do brothers and sisters ever..."

"Ever what?" he asked anxiously.

"Would a brother ever hold his sister's hand? Do siblings hold hands?"

"I don't know," Jace said after a beat of silence. "I mean I've never held Isabelle's hand but holding hands isn't exactly a Shadowhunter tradition. Maybe mundane siblings do it...maybe?" he said to himself thoughtfully.

"Do you think that I could...hold your hand?" Clary knew how strange it sounded, even as she was asking it. "I just want to...touch you." Her cheeks were furiously red. She cursed her light-toned skin.

A smiled played its way onto Jace's face. "I'm sure it's harmless."

Clary nodded, but found her feet were glued to the ground.

Jace was still smiling playfully. "You can sit down now."

"Oh!" Clary exclaimed, blushing. She shuffled over to Jace's bed and took a seat next to him, keeping a safe distance so that their hips didn't touch. She looked to Jace to see his smile was gone. He looked very uncomfortable too. Clary was suddenly wishing she'd never suggested this, but it would be even more awkward to back out now. Despite the nerves, the desire to touch him was burning inside of her.

"So...I guess we should probably hold hands now," she said, wondering when she'd say something that wouldn't make her feel stupid.

Jace nodded nervously. "I guess so."

Slowly, Clary placed her hand, dainty and nails colored with chipped purple nail polish, into Jace's larger, scarred warrior hands. A bolt of electric pleasure surged through Clary. She couldn't contain her excitement. She looked to Jace to see his reaction and swallowed a giggle.

Jace was stiff all over, jaw clenched. Right when they'd touched, she'd heard him inhale sharply through gritted teeth. She grinned. It was nice to know that for once she was the one playing with his emotions!

"Brothers and sisters do this, right?" she asked him.

"I hope so," Jace said, forcing a laugh in an attempt to sound light-hearted.

Clary was determined to keep up the charade. "I'm almost positive there's nothing wrong with it."

She could feel the tension in Jace's hand relax. "Good."

Clary lifted her hand and Jace followed her lead. She felt her heart pounding wildly; it increased to almost an unbearable rate when his fingers interlocked with her's. She looked at him as if to say, _"That's probably going too far."_

"I could stop if you-"

"No," Clary interrupted quietly.

Jace grinned softly, his eyes bright and gold. "Good," he said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

Clary felt her muscles weaken. She was all his now. She leaned against his sturdy chest, built as if she were made to fit into it, and inhaled deeply. His scent tasted sweet. Clary felt secure and safe leaning against him so she closed her eyes.

Jace placed his free hand on her waist, reconsidered and placed it on her back, then figured they were too far gone by now and placed it back on her waist again. "Clary," he whispered.

"Hmm?" she murmured. Then she realized he was just saying her name, as if testing how it sounded aloud. Just as he had right after Valentine had broken the portal.

He lifted his hand from her waist and began to stroke her hair. He ran his fingers through her strawberry curls and rested his chin on her head. They stayed that way for what felt like hours but really only lasted a few minutes before the door swung open.

They flew apart like a rubber band snapping. Clary ran her fingers through her hair, as if to remove evidence of Jace's touch. Jace stared directly at their intruder, Isabelle, as if daring her to even think about asking what had happened.

Isabelle paused for a second, but didn't seem to think anything was wrong. "Did you two want to order anything specific?"

"No thanks," Clary said, hoping she wasn't blushing again.

"Nope," Jace said.

Isabelle arched her eyebrows suspiciously. "Well, ok." She left, shutting the door behind her.

Jace and Clary stared at each other, not saying anything but thinking the same thing. Both of them wanted to get into the exact same position, and just touch each other. But as innocent and childlike as their contact was, it felt wrong all over.

"I should go," Clary said, hopping off the bed.

"Ok, but if you want you could come up here after dinner and we could just...talk," Jace said.

Clary smiled. "Sure...talk," she said. She opened the door but then turned to Jace one last time. "Oh, and Jace?"

"What?"

"I don't think siblings can do_ that_."

"Maybe if they're _really _close."


End file.
